In the Spirit of the Games

That quest for Olympic Gold sure is powerful!

It's enough to bring moms out of retirement, a la Lindsay Davenport, and to me, this shocker of shockers: Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes (pictured) are teaming up for some tournaments this summer before the Olympics, which I thought would basically be the equivalent of hell freezing over, pigs flying, whatever metaphor you would want to use. They pretty much could have been a new metaphor for something unlikely happening! ("You want me to do what? When Paes and Bhupathi get back together!")

If you go to the ATP's home page, you'll see the pair in the video section talking about their chances at the Games. The image of them with big grins on their faces is surprising because these two have really called each other out in the past few years. But they're confident of their chances in Beijing and realize they don't have to be buddy-buddies to do well.

I really like following doubles and I've thought it a shame these two couldn't stick together because they were on their way to being one of the best teams ever. They've won tons of titles together, Slams and Masters shields a-plenty, and even in their first tournament back together last month they made the finals. They got knocked out in their first match in Indianopolis today by another Olympic pairing, Canadians Daniel Nestor and Frederic Niemeyer, but just barely.

Here's hoping the Indian Express gets back on track and can pick up a medal in Beijing. (As long as they don't knock off the Bryans, I'm good!)

(Photos: Getty Images)